Nothing To Gain from the Outside
by Raventhedarkgoddess
Summary: Cyborg falls due to the hacking of his systems and Raven refuses to rest until he is fully working again. With the apperence of foe both old and new, the task will not be easy. RaeCy, RoSf COMPLETED
1. Chapter One

Raventhedarkgoddess: This is what you call being really bored...Starting another fanfic although you can't finish what ones you start. Raven/Cyborg fluff, don't bash it because I'm not listening to you.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, I wouldn't have to resort to fanfiction to get my ideas out and I'd be making money off what I do.  
  
Chapter One: Breaking  
  
It's kind of sudden,  
  
not really, though.  
  
I never wanted you to leave,  
  
but I was expecting you to go.  
  
Raven glanced hopelessly out the window above her bed, looking at the same road the T-car had just driven down,steered by the love of her life. Raven had the urge that she knew well but resisted every day of her life: Raven wanted to throw herself down on the bed and cry forever. You can't, she snapped at herself. You can't keep this up, she told herself nastily. I've got to do something, anything. She stood up and started down the stairs to where the other Titans were talking in low voices. Judging by the way the hushed voices stopped as she came in, Raven had the sinking feeling it had been about how she was taking the disapperence of Cyborg.   
  
She and Cyborg had just started dating each other. "I'm sure he wouldn't leave you without a good reason,Ray," Robin had said about an hour ago as they watched him flee without a word to anyone.Raven hadn't responded,just stared after him with her usual calm facade,hiding the numbing inward shock as her hood flew away from her face. Robin glanced at her edgily, trying to determine what he was suppossed to gather from her expression,which was not her normal placid calm but did not look entirly thrown. "I'm going for a walk,alright?" Raven really didn't care about approval but headed out anyway, followed by a worried Starfire.  
  
"Star..." Starfire turned around to Robin,who looked a little worried and more than a little upset about her sudden urge to chase Raven. "Please be careful. Raven's in a bad mood and if she sees you..." Starfire gave a little nod of her head to indicate that she understood. I hope friend Raven is well,she thought to herself, flying off after the other Titan girl. She found Raven standing at the city limits, obiviously lost in thought.  
  
He'll pass here soon,she thought to herself. I wonder if he'll stop for me...Raven didn't want to think about the possiblity that Cyborg was leaving because of her.Acually,she didn't want to think at all. Starfire watched her struggle with herself for a few minutes and then move into plainer veiw of the road. What is Raven doing? she asked herself. Is she injured?  
  
Suddenly Starfire stiffled a gasp. A car they both knew very well was flying toward them. Cyborg was driven forward, thinking about the voice on the only normal phone in Titan Tower that had threatened to kill his only light and love Raven if he refused to meet them. He saw Raven on the sidewalk and noticed Starfire's head poking out from behind a tree and slowed,unable to keep himself from wanting to talk to her. "Raye,you've got to understand...I can't come back right now. Maybe not ever..." He buried his head in her shoulder, Raven patting him on the top of his head and saying nothing.  
  
"I knew you weren't leaving me for no reason..." Raven smiled and Starfire wiped a tear off her face, watching them. Raven turned to leave him, but he held on for another few seconds and finally they kissed once,lightly.   
  
Raven had no way of knowing that she would never see him alive again. She walked away, humming very vaugly under her breath as she walked and slammed directly into Starfire, who looked a little shocked until the humming faded away. "Starfire,what are you doing here?" The cold tone of voice, so unlike the one she had used with Cyborg, was back, and Starfire wasn't sure wether or not she welcomed it.  
  
"I have come looking for you, friend. You shall come back to the tower with me now." Raven looked back to where Cyborg was still parked and held up a finger, running back over to him and handing him the poen she had been writing right before she started chasing him. Cyborg took it,wondering why she would hand him a peice of paper as he drove out to the appointed meeting spot.  
  
Cyborg read it once,eyes clouding over. I'm sorry I upset you, he said to her in his head. "Hello," came a misty voice that he had last heard coming through a telephone. "Nice to see you, Cyborg. I guessed the right thing, then. How far involved with this girl are you, anyway? Planning on getting married?"  
  
"Who are you and what do you want?" Cyborg stared at her hard. "Why are you here?"  
  
The woman smirked. "Slade wants you dead. With you dead, the team's strongest members will be devestated. The worse they fight, the better everything will be." The smirk streched into a thin smile, as if her lips had forgotten how. Brushing back her grey hair in slight distain, her cold,electric blue eyes locked with his. "I've always wanted part-rulership."  
  
"Well, go to hell if you think you're getting it!" Cyborg engadged in hand to hand combat, but the woman smartly side-stepped him and began hacking his systems.  
  
Back at the tower, everyone began talking at once. Raven decided she didn't feel right about leaving Cyborg all alone. "I'll be back with Cyborg, okay?" Once again,Raven felt no real need to wait for an answer and left the tower, Terra looking after her definate friend in shock while the others decided to let her be. The crazy things you do for love, Terra thought,looking at Beast Boy and blushing.  
  
Raven scanned the city and even from her distance could tell something wasn't right about the abandoned,cracking house on the outskirts of town. Someone laughed in her mind, and she got a flash of the tourtured face of the boy she loved within her mind. Without giving herself time to react, Raven raced off to the building.  
  
Raven moved over the cracked floorboards and found a hole within the floor, in which she knew before she reached in with her mind was Cyborg. A police, having just arrived on the scene, saw him and then her frantic face and obivous loss of control and pulled her away, shaking his head.  
  
Raven was sent home and told to get some rest. When the cops came back, they shook their heads. "Sorry, this one did his battery in. I'm afraid that unless the part can be replaced, it's over." Raven stared at him before jerking her hood over her head and turning to leave.  
  
"You are just leaving him laying on our couch? DO SOMETHING!" Raven didn't even look at the yelling Beast Boy. The cop handed her the paper. "This was in his hand, miss." Raven relised it was the poem she had written. She lifted him up with her powers and only set him down when she was near his bed. "You and I will be togther soon enough." she vowed to his lifeless form as she left.  
  
Raventhedarkgoddess: Okay, there we go. Chapter one. What do you think? Should I continue? 


	2. Chapter Two

Raventhedarkgoddess: Opps...I kinda forgot all about this story. Sorry about that!  
  
Chapter Two: And After All.  
  
Raven sighed, her feet carrying her unwitting body back into Cyborg's room. I can't face the others yet, she thought to herself. That could end in a disaster...  
  
She entered his room soundlessly, her mouth nothing more than a taunt line on her face. It relaxed slightly at the sight of him, but just the knowlage that he wouldn't open his arms to her or ever kiss her ever again brought the worry and stress back. She ran one hand over his chest, then pulled back at the finding that, without his character and mind inside it, it was nothing more than metal. Repulsed by that sudden thought, she slid her hand upward to the human side of his face.  
  
She let it lay there for a few seconds, examining the black under her own pale skin. Who decided that color was bad?, she thought. I think it suits him just fine. Raven realized that she had seen that look on a few faces when they had been out before, the one that declared that a black man should not be with a white woman, and hated the human race more than ever.  
  
Trying to turn her bitter thoughts away, she glanced around the room. His trophy case, overstocked, glittered with the last rays of the fading sunlight. She looked at every single sports trophy with wonder, almost not wanting to know how one guy could be filled with so much energy to play sports with.   
  
She glanced past that and something on the bedside table caught her eye. There were three picture frames there. One held a picture of the team, which made a smile curve over Raven's face because Cyborg had just punched Beast Boy and Starfire appered to be trying to figure out what a camera was. Raven herself noticed she had her hood up. Why do I always hide? She wondered.  
  
The second one was at the carnival. She herself held up the giant stuffed chicken Cyborg and Beast Boy had won for her. Beast Boy was trying to take the chicken from her and Cyborg had been the one holding the camera, trying to get his own face in next to Raven so that everything appered on a slight slant. In this one her hood was down, and she noticed that, although she was ready to slug Beast Boy, she didn't look quite as cold as in the group picture.  
  
The third one was taken of the two of them on the newly finished T-car. You could tell Robin had taken the picture because a peice of his green glove was visible in the left corner. She sat on the hood with Cyborg behind her. He was smiling broadly, and his arms, as she had failed to notice at the time of the picture, lay in different places. One was on the hood of the T-car, but the other was around Raven's shoulder. Raven still had the smudge of grease on her face and she was smiling too.  
  
Good times, she thought to herself. Good times that I can have more of once I figure out how you got like this, she added to Cyborg in her head. Leaving the room, she left the light off, looking one last time at Cyborg and promising him in her head: She would get him back.  
  
"Raven, where are you going?" Robin stopped her at the foot of the steps, staring at her all the while. The fact that she had on a loose pair of jeans and a dark t-shirt made everyone raise their own head in wonder.  
  
"For a walk. Just a walk. I'll be back." And Raven left the others to clear her head, all of her thoughts laying back with the picture of building the car with Cyborg. So he liked me before I would admit it after all, she thought mournfully.  
  
Raventhedarkgoddess: Very, very, very short chapter because I'm being just a little lazy right now. The next one should be longer. 


	3. Chapter Three

Raventhedarkgoddess: And I'm still being lazy.....But hopefully this will be a little longer.

_**Chapter Three: Worth Fighting For**_

_Expecting you to go away._

_Leave me all alone._

_Staring into space, so far._

_The light is often shown._

Raven sighed deeply, a sound that made the people on the street around her that were close enough to hear the unearthly sound look at her oddly. Thankful for the hood on the jacket she'd found in Cyborg's room last month, she kept walking, quietly and reflectivly. Although it hung off her loosely and had a ratty hole in one pocket, it had belonged to Cyborg at one point and wearing it only reminded her of him and stiffened her resolution to figure his problem out even more. When I found out who did this, I'll kill them, she promised herself in her head.

Cyborg, she thought dulley. The streetlamp above her glowed an odd black color and she dodged a single shard of the glass as it hurled itself at the ground. I've got to be careful, she thought to herself. You can't help anyone if your idenity is figured out. Her feet lead her toward the back alley she walked down anytime she was in town, away from anything she could shatter and anyone that could possibly ask her questions.

Both of her eyes stayed to the ground as she moved forward. All she saw, though, was not the ground: It was memories of them, of training and riding in the T-car and smiles. What does it feel like to smile again? Raven thought. I'll just have to have Cyborg remind me when he wakes up. She didn't even notice the hand closing around her wrist until it was holding her in place.

"Don't make a sound. Just hand over all the money you got on you, nice and easy. We'll let you go then. First, money." Raven stared hard at the boy in the ski-mask. I could just avoid a scene, she thought. Would Cyborg avoid a scene? No! With that thought, Raven shook both thugs off her wrist. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven hollored, knocking both boys against the brick apartments so that their heads smacked first. The hood flew away from her head, and she sighed as the boys eyes traveled to her face. All cover was blown.

"It's that goth Titan girl. We shouldn't have attacked her, we're in so much trouble, we are such complete toast..... Ernie, I told you she looked strong, but you can't ever just listen, can you?" The shorter of the two boys was in a state of complete panic.

"Shhhhhhh," The boy called Ernie hissed. "Exactly like you said, it's that goth girl Titan who's been all over the tabloids lately. She likes that black guy, so she really wouldn't hurt anyone." He turned to face Raven. "Hey, come and hit me if you dare!"

"You have no right to talk about him like that. You don't even know him." Keeping her voice flat, her face calm, she stared the boy down. "You probably don't know what it's like to care about anything at all. So I suggest shutting your mouth unless you would like to go through the wall."

"Is that all you've got? A speech? Look, you're the one shaming yourself," Ernie told her, his deep voice hitting her right in the center of her fury. Without another word, she blasted both boys at the wall, holding them there, kicking Ernie, punching the other boy.

"Take it back, she hissed. "Take it all back right this second. Cyborg never did anything to deserve having punks like you on him." Ernie's blood had fallen across the front of the jacket she wore, the other boy was bruised but not bleeding.

"Apparently you Titans don't read the papers you're in. We take it back," he added at the sight of Raven's face. Both slumped to the ground, almost lifelessly but still breathing. Too angry to risk speaking again, Raven ran off into the night in the direction of the Tower.

The double doors to her home busted themselves open as she reached them. She ran inside and sank onto the couch, well aware that everyone's eyes were on her. Starfire was the first to reach her side, touching her hand gently. "Raven, what happened?" Always blunt and leaderlike, Robin cut straight to the point at the blood over the coat and t-shirt she was wearing.

"Some thugs and a dark alley." She shrugged it off. "It's their blood, not mine," she added in further explaination to everyone's shocked faces. "I'm gonna go get changed." She walked upstairs, leaving everyone staring after her in a shocked fashion.

Raventhedarkgoddess: Once again, rather short. But please reveiw it anyway.


	4. Chapter Four

_Raventhedarkgoddess: I'm sorry, school is being gay and I haven't had time to work on any updates for a long time_. --;

**Chapter Four: Life's Little Hassles**

_I knew it somewhere inside,_

_nothing could have changed._

_But everything without is dark._

_And what I loved feels strange._

Raven woke up the next morning and slipped into her clothes, ready to face the day as best as she could when a major part of her life was missing. Her hand trembled as she went to redo the clasp of the red jewel on her cloak. She remembered how Cyborg would come across her fighting with it, in the hall or on the room, and slip his hand under her throat, fixing it for her. She remembered how her thank you was cut off as he slipped his hand to her lips, letting the silence talk for both of them.

The rain came down heavily as Robin went up to knock on Raven's door. He knew what she was capible of doing to herself. _She could probably kill herself in an instent if she wanted, he thought. She can't lose hope, not now............ _He didn't know why he was so worried, but all the same he took the stairs, two at a time, to the heavy steel door with the word '**Raven' **etched in it and prepared to knock. His green gloved hand hesatated, inches from the door. What if she hurts me? He thought, realizing that he actually feared the girl on the other side of the door.

The door opened before he could knock. "Yes, Robin?" She asked, sounding perfectly normal, although from what he could tell she hadn't slept well.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay and tell you breakfast is ready," Robin said, rather lamely. _Ya, right, you wanted to make sure she wasn't dead._

"Robin...................." She couldn't figure out what she wanted to say. "Robin, don't worry. Everything'll work out, somehow................." She put his hand on his shoulder. "I guess we knew him best, huh? You've got to be feeling as bad as I do....................."

"It'll be okay, Raven." The two of them turned to go down the steps, her cloak making a loud swishing noise, his cape making no sound at all. She walked lightly, as if nothing in the world was holding her back, while Robin felt himself plodding along slowly. _Amazing how she can still go on as if nothing happened..................._ His thoughts were becoming disorgaized, and he gave up on thinking anymore as they walked silently to breakfast.

"Tofu!" Beast Boy proclaimed loudly. Raven sat down, preparing for the usual cry of 'Not that crap!', but there was nothing and no one to contridict him. The emptiness had overtaken her again and she ate it without complaint or compliment.

Starfire and Robin exchanged worried looks over Beast Boy's head. Raven's personally had gotten, if possible, even more surrly and angry. Her dark eyes focused on only her plate, and no one dared to bother her.

As she stood up and pushed her plate away, her own words of false comfort to Robin ringing in her ears. "First, we'll have to figure out who did it," Robin was saying. "Not just anyone could have done this, you know." He sighed. "Cyborg's techonagy was pretty tricked out. Not many people could have destroyed it so throughly."

"Who would have done it?" Beast Boy asked, totally confused.

Rain splatted against the window and Robin's words were almost drowned out by the thunder. "Slade," he said.

"So, what are we gonna do about it?" Beast Boy asked.

But Slade had never been known to miss a cue, and today was no exception. Raven called for them all, informing them that Slade had 'a word for them all.' "Hello, Titans. Only four?" His smirk gave him away immidatly.

Normally, Robin would have done the yelling, but today Raven stepped up to the bat to have a few good cracks at Slade. "What the hell did you do with him?" Her eyes locked to the screen, her body ridgid, her face tightening noticably.

"Tense, aren't we? Relax, there's one way to fix this: I know the tecnolagy. Your friend Cyborg could easily be standing beside you. All you have to do is turn yourselves over to me, and I think I'll keep a few apprinitces and one or two pets. You'll destroy all you've saved." He let that sink it. "What do you say?"

_Raventhedarkgoddess: And now I come to the part where I don't write anymore for a while._


	5. Chapter Five

_Raventhedarkgoddess: Finally. I hate writer's block. This is going to be short too............... Sorry in advance._

**Chapter Five: Never**

"We'll get him back without any help from you, Slade," Robin practicly spat at the screen. "Whatever you did, we'll find a way to reverse it." He turned to Raven, put a hand on her shoulder, a hand meant to reassure her, to comfort and calm her, but to also pass a message as not only a friend but as a team leader: Even as her breathing slowed, he transfered a silent message: _Don't do anything stupid, _it whispered to her.

"You can never reclaim him without me," Slade said, and his smirk passed from face to face, from Titan to Titan. _The simplistic joy of baiting, _he thought to himself. _For it's not in the prize but the hunt that I'll win them over. _"The Teen Titans are finished. Soon you'll be my apprintice, Robin, and the rest of you will be as your friend is now: Dead."

The word, _dead, _used so freely, so lightly to describe what Cyborg was, was enough to set Raven's temper into full swing. Robin felt her shrug off his hand in an angry fashion, and reached for her but managed to grab only air, finger tips taking the edge of her cloak but not enough to actually restrain her.

"He's alive," she hissed through clenched teeth, eyes glowing red, and the Titans exchanged worried glances: Raven had fully lost it. There was no one that understood how to bring her back under control.

_But Cyborg is............... _Beast Boy refused to let himself finish the thought. _Alive. Cyborg is alive, and we will get him back. _Like Raven, everyone was trapped in denial.

"Your friend is as good as dead. You all know that. So why is there so much denial in this room? It would be much, much easier just to give up." He looked around once more. _Her powers might be easily harnessed.................. _He watched the girl, Raven, standing there, bold in anger. _She's just as Terra was, rough around the edges. But Terra is gone now, and I could use another apprintice....._

"He...is.....not!" Raven was breathing heavily, eyes focused ahead, fixed on him. "Take it back!" Robin tried to grip her wrists, pull her back, but a blast of energy almost knocked him clean off his feet, back away from her. He looked from side to side: The others had taken a step back: There was nothing they could do.

"Tisk, tisk. Raven, how many times has that temper of yours gotten in your way?" Slade was mocking, taunting, cruel once more.

"Don't start," she hissed. "Don't you dare start with me." The venom held it's edge firmly, her eyes glowing warmer than ever, the red an inner fire, her inner demon. "You take that back, take that back right now. He's alive, do you hear me?!"

"You say what you want to belive," Slade said softly. "I know that this is the end of it." His smirk was cold, too cold. "You seem angry, Raven dear. Musnt' get angry, now, we all know how you are when you're angry........" _This is working very well to my advantage._

"Take it back! Take it back!" Raven's cloak billowed around her in an unseen wind, her hair flying loosely around her head.

"If this is how you handle anger," Slade said with a smirk, staring her down through his one seeable eye, "How do you handle love? You can't really love that bucket of bolts, now can you?" He smirked at her. "Love is a powerful feeling, after all. You can't have feelings: You can't control them. The pair of you would have died by now if you had loved him, you would be insane without him. Love is thicker than anger, and we all see now that you.........."

"SHUT UP!" Raven roared. Black energy moved itself around her, consumed her, rolled around her like electricity. "JUST SHUT UP!" The others stepped back, beyond help, beyond everything but keeping themselves out of the way, away from this strange girl: She was no longer their friend, Raven.

A crack was heard and glass shards flew, one landing at Starfire's feet: She pulled up to Robin as Slade's face was blown into oblivion, into those hundrads of tiny peices. Raven backed away quickly, fear taking her face, fear at what she'd done, the anger subsiding. She breathed hard, her face contorted in a mask of emotions, things blowing up every few feet: But at least she was now reconizable as Raven.

"I........." She could find no words as the first tear fell. She ran, turning on her heels, the thudding of her feet the only sound. It echoed in the tower, in the depression and dispair. Robin moved to Starfire's side and she let herself relax in his arms, let his hand stroke her hair: She knew why Raven must be feeling so pained.

"Dude.......... Raven was crying............" Beast Boy could not quite comprehend what he had just seen. He kept hearing her words, that one stuttered I, seeing her violet eyes cloud over with water, and the one long tear, running in a path past her nose, splattering the front of her body.........

"We have to do something, Star," Robin said, using her rather to bounce the words back to his own numb brain.

"Let us begin our search," Starfire whispered to him. "We must find who is working with Slade and why." Her emrald eyes looked out the window. "Things must get better."

"We'll get him back, Starfire." He looked at the ceiling above him slowly. "Don't worry Raven," Robin whispered. "We'll get him back."

The books moved themselves, things making random crashes into the floating objects flying from their shelves, onto the floor. A paper fluttered down like an unseen ghost. "Cyborg......." Tears had never soaked her pillow before: Now the pillow was saturated and still they fell. "I love him. I do love you, Cyborg," she wept.

(HL)

"Did they fall for it, Slade?" The gray-haired woman of only thirty looked over at Slade, her electric blue eyes staring in worship at him, warm and clear, so unlike the gaze that they had turned to Cyborg last night.

"Yes, my dear, dear Marissina." _And as soon as I have Robin and possibly Raven, since she's trainable, I will have no need to be around you. _"And soon you shall see the partual rulership I promised as my queen."

"Wonderful." She let out her villionus laugh and gazed at his mask in wit, wondering if someday he would show her his face. _Soon I will be the envy of the world._

_I will be someone. _She let this thought roll around in her mind.

_She will be no one when I finish her. _Slade's laugh, with this thought, became just a tiny bit louder.


	6. Chapter Six

_Raventhedarkgoddess: I know, I know, I haven't updated in forever... Sorry._

**Chapter Six: Unbroken**

Raven sat up: Her head was heavy and her breathing was under her control. Everything seemed to be back under her control. Slowly, carefully, as if still unsure of her emotions, she cast the books back toward their shelves and examined the glass: Luckily, no panes were broken on the windows she conceled. "Enough being stupid. Go downstairs and apoligize for worrying everyone," she hissed at herself. _Even if it's not really my fault I'm so upset about everything. They don't deserve to be yelled at either..._

She made her way down the steps, slowly and carefully, still not trusting the weak feeling of her own legs, afriad they would give out on her at any given point. The other Titan's voices were a low murmer: A happy, cheerful-sounding whisper, an authorive undertone, a light, girlish voice clouded with seriousness,and a slightly joking but still serious-sounding voice rose up to greet her. "...May have a couple of leads?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes, friend Robin, are you certain that if we go after Slade and this... Other person, we will be victorious? I mearly want friend Raven and friend Cyborg to go back to being their normal selves." Starfire wasn't smiling, and for a moment, the girl looked serious, something different for her. _Oh, Starfire... _Raven thought quietly.

"I hope so. We... As a team, I say that we have to work through this and find a solution. I mean, a battery is a battery, and if they can destroy it, they can tell us how to fix it, right?" Robin has a determined 'leader' look on his face that plainly said he would not be stopped, that this was something that needed to be and would be done, even if it meant risking their lives to do so.

"I hope so. I don't like seeing Raven look like that. I'm really sorry I yelled at her..." Beast Boy looked empty in both face and heart. "I mean, it's scary when she's upset." Raven felt her lips part for a momentary smile, but then they reformed: This was no time to be laughing.

"It will work out." Terra seemed not to be making a statement but a declaration, something that would come to pass as the truth. "We are a family... We'll make it work out, right, Rob?"

"Yes." The leader smiled at Starfire, and she smiled back. _They mean so much to each other... They all know how I feel, in a way, because they're hoping it doesn't happen... _"Hey, guys," she said quietly, stepping down to reveal she had been hiding there. "Listen, I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Ack!" Beast Boy, the only one with his back to the stairwell, jumped. The other two just looked at Raven for a second: Her face was clean and normal, normal meaning hard and forgetting-looking, the line that was her lips expressionless, almost painfully so to anyone who looked upon her.

"It's okay, we just hope you're okay," Robin said quietly. "We're going out soon, we've got a lead that could save Cyborg." He ran a hand through his black hair, giving it a more ruffled apperence than ever. "You can stay here if you want..." He seemed embaressed to have to be the one to say that to her. "I know it can be hard sometimes with... With things like this..."

"No. I have to come... My emotions will be fine. Something like this... Won't wait. I'm going to save Cyborg... He would have done the same thing for any of us. I own him this." Her violet eyes were clear and cold. "It has to be done. It just has to."

"All right." The team leader smiled.

The group climbed into the T-car: Unbroken, smiling, and ready to face whatever was next.

They weren't prepared for what came next.

_Raventhedarkgoddess: Well, it's short, which I'm good at. Leave a review if it suits you..._


	7. Chapter Seven

Raventhedarkgoddess: Well, you know me, lazy as ever, sorry I haven't updated.

****

Chapter Seven: Not All Is Fair...

The attack was sudden, swift, and unexpected, and yet something in Slade's muscles tensed, and he moved out of the way of the bolts of green and black light seconds before they would have struck in directly in his masked face, leaning heavily on his bow staff, which seemed to appear from nowhere and hit the floor at his side in a tedious balancing act.

"Never send a girl to do the work of a team. Why were just you sent? One would assume that an attempt to revive a teammate would be one for the whole team. Or have they finally realized that your attempts to bring that hunk of steel who was as good as dead back to life and given up on you? I can see why they would let you come to hold your own, although why you brought Starfire is beyond me. You're not very good at protecting those you care about, Raven." Slade's voice held half a chuckle, half a laugh.

"Don't you dare drag my friends into this," Raven hissed at him, the venom in her voice painful and hate-filled, but she tried to brush it down. "This isn't about them, and it isn't about my past faults. This is about Cyborg and only about getting Cyborg back. You know how, and you're going to tell me." She managed to force calm back into her voice, but the rage was too close, too real, moving toward her surface. Just stay calm..."You're 'going to tell me'? What a rude way to ask for information, Raven. And besides, what makes you so sure I am the one to know? What of my associates? And besides, I don't understand why you waste your time on such futile efforts. He's obviously not going to come back to you."

"You know how to revive him. Don't pretend that you don't. You're going to tell me." Starfire looked with worry at Raven: The cold edge on her voice was slipping, becoming more emotional. Whatever was going through her mind was obviously having a serious effect on how stable she was, on her well-being as far as her very sanity went.

"I already told you: It's not polite to accuse someone who probably has no idea of what you're talking about. And besides, his condition is hopeless. Why cling to the one you could never love in the first place? Besides, why love something that probably isn't even human enough to love you back?" His visible eye gleamed at her in partial hatred, patrial... Was that pity she saw on his face? She blinked once, but it was already gone, replaced by the hard mask of emotions that he guarded, so unlike her because he chose to be a lifeless-looking soul.

The words formed themselves inside her head and she saw them in fury, knew her emotions were slipping, tried to recage the ugly feelings of hate and rage but felt them moving away from her anyway, felt them moving toward him. "Don't ever speak that disrespectfully about Cyborg. Ever again. Never." The words were her own pain and rage, but they felt as if they were spoken by a stranger, and she longed to pull back, but something inside her refused. I will not let him get away with this.Starfire's emerald eyes grew slightly larger in her head: She knew what was happening and grabbed Raven's arm impulsively. "Friend Raven, you must not!" Even as her own panicked voice filled the room, though, and reached her ears, she knew that words were only feeble words and would do nothing to help her cause, mainly not against the demon inside of Raven.

"Oh, did my comment about Cyborg get you all riled up? Just calm down, child. After all, what makes him worth getting upset over anyway?" He smirked: Ever since Terra, he had known that rage itself, her own emotions, mostly anger, were her downfall. Even after all this time, he refused to forget the one thing that could break the girl, mainly when all it took were words of anger and rage and hatred toward her beloved pile of scrap metal.

Raven let out an animal cry of inhuman rage and, outstretched arm shaking, sent a bolt of black energy flying in his direction. It grabbed his bo staff: Within seconds, it was little more than metal splinters on the floor. She advanced in a slow, menacing gild, Starfire still trying to calm her, to sooth her inner savage and failing.

"Come now, is that any way to treat a fellow human?" Slade mocked her, stepping over the shattered metal with a sick, obnoxious, and echoing crunching sound toward them. "Oops, my bad... Someone like you who can't feel love isn't human."

This time, two bolts came toward him: He was unable to dodge the one Starfire through, and then Raven fired again, knocking in the left side of his mask. He felt the metal dig into his skin and decided now was the time to leave them, to run back and cause the boys to fall, then come back to finish the demon he had unleashed. "We'll meet again, Raven."

She wanted to chase Slade through the narrow archway, wanted to wrench away from Starfire and follow him until she caught him and ripped his heart from his chest. But instead she fell to her knees, gasping for air, all of her rage gone and only an empty, hollow feeling in her chest. "I... I accidentally let go, and now I'll never have another chance..."

"You must get up, friend Raven. Slade must be defeated. Do not let him steal away all you have ever cared about!" Starfire cried back in protest of Raven's weakness. "You must get up!"

She rose without a word, everything about her movements somewhat forced. "I'm going to get him..." Stafire could do nothing but nod. Cyborg had to be reclaimed, even if it meant that Raven ended up losing her temper one more time. They gave chase through the crumbling archway.

Robin crept silently toward the woman. He wondered briefly if this was the right thing to do, but there was only one way to find out.

* * *

"Hello, Robin," she said in a deep and yet chilling female voice. "Hello, Beast Boy."

_How did she know we were here!_


	8. Chapter Eight

_Raventhedarkgoddess: I don't actually have any babbling to do about my lack of updates or anything this time, 'cause it actually hasn't been a two or three month span, so I'll just get on with the fanfiction. Thanks to those who give continued support._

**Chapter Eight: Heart of Stone**

"So, you're the two remaining male members of the Teen Titans." The woman stood quietly and quickly, her white hair catching the dim light from the computer screen which she had been intently working in front of. Robin could feel his muscles tense: There was something about this room he hated, something that already made him want to pull away, something of evil and dispair as well as pain. Her electric blue eyes caught his, however, and he could not look away.

"I'm pleased to meet you," she said, her voice chilling and low, striking a husky note in spite of her apperence, her long outfit preened, all black save the orange 'S' on the right side of her shirt, placed there as if in pride. The mocking was unmistakable. "After all, halflings soon to fall to our side are always nice to meet. You," she said, shifting her eyes, "Must be the leader, Robin." She paused here, waiting for him to acknowlege her.

"And what's it to you if I am Robin?" He asked, drawing his weapon in a flash, ready to strike her. "You're going to tell me how to cure my friend, and then you're going to go to jail where you belong!" Robin knew how furious he sounded but didn't care, enjoying his rush of recklessness, knowing that he would have to avoid paying for it with his life somehow later but, none the less, knowing he would have said something sooner or later and was not the type to be silenced by a villan anyway.

"Ah, and a rather sarcastic mouth, too," she added with a jeer on the edge of her voice. "Wonderful!" She then turned her head slightly to the other side. "And you're Beast Boy. Pity we won't have time to get to know each other."

Robin stepped in front of his friend. "Watch what you say," he hissed in a testy voice. "You're the one who may not be alive much longer." The weapon he had drawn gleamed in the dim light, it's warning as pronounced as the one on it's owners face.

"But then you would never get to know how to save Cyborg." Her eyes flashed a warning of danger. "And, after all, we know what a loss to you that would be." A cold smirk filled her eyes as well as her face, and Robin almost shuddered: There was something about her that was not only evil, it was also vile and repulsive. "Serve us, and you can all be together in power, on our side."

'I'll die first."

"Now, now, Robin, you know you'll give in before you die." She smirked. "After all, if you won't turn that hard heart of yours away from saving your friends, even if it means you live your life in fear and anger and rage. You know you won't." She smirked. "I know how you are. Slade knows how you are, and he has told me everything about it and about you."

Robin's hands balled into fists at his sides, his fingers digging into the palms through his gloves. "Shut up!"

"Testy, testy," she muttered loudly. "That temper of yours will be your undoing." Slowly, as if out of nowhere, she produced a small knife, it's black blade glittering in the dim light, moving slowly forward. "Tonight you will join us, of your own free will or not!"

That was when the door behind her burst open to reveal the running villan, the girls now hot on his heels. Slade jumped up and moved over, coming to stand next to her. "Don't tell them anything!"

"Ah, Slade." Her face and eyes seemed to warm up at the sight of him, at the mention of his name. "You've come to see the fall of your enemy, then?" She brushed back her hair. It was almost as if...

Robin shook his head. He couldn't stand to think like that, not now. "Freeze! We have you surrounded!" He glared at his enemies, daring them to move. "You're going to answer our questions!"

"He thinks he's threatening us," thewomansaid with a slight laugh. "He really thinks that we're just going to give him whatever he wants and walk away quietly." She turned to face Robin. "You're sadly mistaken, my dear boy."

A starbolt almost grazed the top of her head in fierce reply from Starfire. "Do not insult my friends!"

"I have no use for insolence of your kind." The knife nearly grazed Starfire. "Shall we kill the girl and the green boy now?" She was about to say more, or so it seemed, until the black surge of energy ripped the knife from her hands and lifted her, lifting her up higher and higher into the air so that she hung there, pinned to a nearby wall.

"You're not going to kill anyone." Raven's voice was low and deadly. "You're not going to kill anyone, or I'm going to kill you." Her words were flat and without remorse. The other Titans stared: Could this really be their friend, Raven, who cared about Cyborg, willing to commit a murder in front of their faces to save him?

"Heart of stone, I see," Slade murmered. "But things will be much easier if that fool dies now."


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine: Fire To Kill**

Slade began to move himself toward Marissina, knowing that the easiest way to distract the Titans was to kill one of the people they believed to have the blueprints. _Not as if she'll be that big of a loss anyway, _he added to himself. _I prefer the more hateful ones anyway. _"Prove your worth to me," he whispered to her as he moved closer to her. "Get them."

Raven's eyes were continuing to bore into Slade, watching his every move with fire in them. "Tell me now how to repair, or we'll attack you. You can't keep hiding your information from us forever. You'll give in sooner or later, like it or not."

Slade clucked his tounge in exagerated, faked sympathy. "Do you, my dear girl, really believe that you, that any of you, can defeat me? You'll find again, as in the past, that you cannot. Besides, Raven, I see that you're in no conditon to fight. Those nasty emotions of yours are getting out of hand- Are you perhaps angry at me?"

"I am **not **angry," she hissed from between her teeth. "You're just replusive." Her face was set in a tight, hard line under her hood, and Robin could sense the determination flowing from her: A determination to not only beat Slade but to not lose her control now, to avoid giving Slade any of the sick satisfaction he was searching for.

Marissina laughed at Raven, making the girl's face grow even tighter. _Control, _Raven thought. _I need to have control, or I'm going to lose... _"Silly girl. You cannot defeat Slade. He knows everything about you, including just how to make you angry. You're destined to lose, and the sooner you understand that the better. You'd best give u... Aurgh!"

As the knife struck her chest, Marissina let out a long, loud cry and then slumped forward. Slade seemed to have no regreat as he pulled the knife from her back and let it fall from his hand again, this time in her chest.

"Why?" She asked him, her eyes wild with fear and hatred. "Why?"

"You know too much to stay alive, dear. And yet, you served your purpose as a pet. Congradulations on that much." He nudged her away from himself with the toe of one boot, and then turned back to the Titans. The figure on the floor looked shocked: When had she become someone to be discarded like old trash?

"If it's a fight you desire, little girl, then let us fight," Slade said, addressing Raven. The words 'little girl' must have struck a nerve, because something within her back tensed and she moved forward, as if to say there was no way she was backing off, not now, not with Slade mocking her like this.

"Fine. Let's go, Slade." She watched as the knife fell from his hands to the floor, and instead his bow staff came out from across his back and rested loosely, almost lazily, in his left hand. Her eyes darted around the room, looking at the objects scattered around the room, wondering if any of them would prove useful in combat with the hateful figure before her.

Robin finally managed to open his mouth and fight down the sickness coming up in his mouth. "You're too sick for words, Slade! Team, get him!" Robin yelled, staring to move in on Slade.

A black burst of energy came up like a shield so that Robin could see but not touch the battle. _This is personal, _he suddenly heard from Raven, although her mouth was not moving. The words practically vibrated with all of her determination and the pain she was taking to keep it there. _If I fall, then you can take him down._ She glanced at Slade, moving and dodging the attack at her legs. _This is something I have to do alone._

Robin nodded mutely. "Fight hard for us, Raven..." He muttered, and the shield went down, something that seemed to relieve it's owner of a bit of stress, for she began to move more freely. Starfire and Beast Boy failed to say anything, but they tried to look more sympatetic than doubtful as they stood beside the Boy Wonder and watched Raven fight. "Be ready," he comanded, and both of them nodded.

As Raven landed with her head against the wall, Slade took the chance to walk over and tap a few keys on a keyboard. There on the screen was the very prize Raven had been searching for...

"His blueprints," she breathed as she stood, her eyes to the screen. "He can be repaired with these?"

"Just enter my service," he said. "That's all it would take, and then you'd all be on the same team... And you'd be together again. Consider that. Consider the facts. Consider the love you think you have for him."

Raven ground her teeth, face taunt and eyes full of fire, trying to remind herself to fight, to remind herself that his was no time to give in. _You've come this far, but even with Cyborg himself... He'd never forgive me if I turned us both over to the dark side. Evil... Cannot be my calling. _"Get out of my head! Stop trying to trick me!"

"Fiesty," Slade simply chuckled, and the fight between them resumed, Raven ducking her head away from him and striking him in the stomach with one of the machines, which sparked as it sent him flying into the oppisite wall. "But you won't defeat me, Raven."

Marissina pulled herself along on her hands and stomach, the wounds causing her to hang between life and death. Her hand touched Robin's boot and she collapsed, her eyes now faded, but her thin voice pleading. _This death cannot be in vain... I have to tell him... Have to give him the plans... Have to help them save their friends... I deserve more than this._

"Robin... Your friend... His blueprints... Are in my back pocket... Please... Take them... Save him... Save the girl... He loves her... They love each other... This... isn't right..."

"You would have killed me five minutes ago," Robin hissed between his teeth. "Why should I trust you now?" He watched Slade taking on Raven, destroying her to the emotional weakness she was feeling, throwing her aside as if she were nothing and gritted his teeth.

"No one... should die in... vain..." She gasp out, as her eyes started to close. He sighed, knowing he had no choice as he heard the crash of Raven's body against one of the crates in the corner. Reaching down for the black cloak she wore, he found them.

"Take them... And let no more deaths... Be in vain." And with that, her breath ceased, and Starfire buried her head in Robin's shoulder. Gently, looking the papers over, he stroked her hair, reassuring himself more than her as he held her. "Titans, we've got to help Raven!"

Another forcefield, however, came up in front of them, transparnt and yet just as unbreakable as the first one. _This is between me and Slade. I don't want any of you to get hurt because of this. _Moving herself away from the crate, she hit Slade in the stomach and set him flying backward so that he hit into the wall.

"Good move, Raven," Slade said with a smirk, rolling out from under her and trying to get behind her for a hit with his bow staff. However, she stopped him with her right hand and struck him with her foot, kicking him in the face. "Very good," he added with a grunt.

"You hurt my friends!" A kick to the stomach. "You don't seem to realize how sick you are, and I wont' stop until you've told me or died."

He smacked the wall again, hard, and a bout of dizziness swam over his eyes. "Are you really intending to kill me?" He asked in a mocking voice, almost unable to move.

Another blow to the head was the answer he recived.

"Dude, Raven's going to kill him!" Beast Boy cried out in shock.

"Friend Raven... Would not really do such a thing, would she, friend Robin?" Starfire pressed her head again into his shoulder. He just held onto her: Any answer he could think of was none too reassuring.

_No death should ever be in vain. _The last words of the now-dead villan at his feet rang in his head. Noticing that Raven had dropped her shield, he ran toward them, toward the heart of the fighting, realizing that just as no death should be in vain, no KILLING should be in vain.

"Raven, you have to stop!" He cried out. "Please dont' do this to yourself!" That was when his eyes met with hers, and even under the hood, he could see the fire in her eyes.

The fire to kill. "She wouldn't..."

_Would she?_

**_Raventhedarkgoddess: I personally think this update is kind of rushed, but reviews appricated all the same. I'll try to wrap it up soon, and not keep you waiting too long for updates._**


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten: Hands Of Hate**

Although Raven's eyes had met with Robin's for that brief second, as she fought with Slade the barrier between herself and the other Titans quickly dropped away to nothingness. Slade let out a small noise that was presumably one of pain as she hit him off the wall, ignoring all but the fight.

"Raven! Please, you've got to just hear me out…." Robin was desperate, running toward the fight with full speed and a low voice, wishing there was some way to make her listen to him. "Raven!"

She didn't even look up. "You're a bastard. You killed Cyborg… You refuse to bring him back…. You deserve to die, damn you!" She hit him again with more force than ever, which somehow cracked the side of Slade's mask, splintering the metal just along his jagged cheek-line with a shape unseen in most metal fragments.

Slade let out only a small moan in reply.

"What's the matter?" She spat hatefully, her emotion –choked voice coming out heavy and dark, standing over him with literal power radiating from her. "Can't you get up anymore and face the reality of what you've done now?"

Slade didn't answer her. Instead, he lay there on the ground, blood actually coming from the cracked side of his face, laying in a small puddle on the ground. "You… This is all in vain…"

"Shut up!" Raven kicked him away from her again.

"Raven, you can't…." Robin couldn't stand it anymore, and instead grabbed her by the left shoulder and tried his hardest to pull her back. However, she resisted his touch and thrust him back, throwing him away from her and instead slamming him into something else, jumped on him so that her feet landed against his chest, causing a nasty metallic crunching noise.

His low moan said it all- He truly was defeated. Robin looked over at his arch enemy, still trying to pry Raven away from him, but he felt the resistance from his own heart, and a part of him wondered if it wasn't better for him to just die now, quickly and painlessly.

"Raven, please stop!" Beast Boy had latched himself onto Raven's other arm and tried to pull her back. However, now both of her arms pinned, she seemed to become more aware of her ability to move her legs, and kicked Slade in his chest again, then again.

Again and again, refusing to stop until he was gone and dead…

Raven's POV…

I hate him. I hate this damn…. I can't wait to kill him. I watch my own legs slam him again and again, slamming against his chest as I fight to break from my friends. Starfire grabs my arm too, but I don't have the heart to throw her off too… She's been too good of a friend for that.

At the same time, my anger wants to be in total control. I can hear Robin screaming- Telling me what I should and shouldn't do, how this will affect my life, telling me that Cyborg is still able to come back- but I don't listen to him, not really.

All that's important to me now is seeing to it that Slade dies in any way possible, even if I have to soil my own hands. We all do stupid things in the name of love, after all, myself included.

And I know I'd do anything to have Cyborg back. I loved him, and Slade…He pushed me to this, to this point of breaking. He has to die for that, to suffer for that.

I wonder vaugly if my eyes are glowing red under the hood, if Slade is afraid of me yet, because I hear his defenseless cries, his need to scream out in pain and tell me how very sorry he is. I know he'd do anything in his power to remidfy the stituation, to save his own worthless life.

But that's all his life is to me is worthless.

And I will kill him.

"Raven, think about it for a second! What would Cyborg do if he could see you like this, if he could see how much you hate this man right now? No life is worth this anger! Please, Raven…. Would you want Cyborg to see just how far you'd go if it meant you could have him back!"

"Cyborg is gone! Don't you understand that? He's gone and it's over with, Robin!"

"Friend Raven, we can save your boyfriend! Please, do not cause another death in vain…." Starfire, still clutching to Raven's left arm and Robin's waist, was standing there behind her own boyfriend, doing her best to support him.

Which, for some odd reason, set Raven off. "Stay out of this!" She screamed, slamming Slade to the ground yet again. He was looking tired and worse for wear, and Robin almost felt a form of pity for the bleeding

"You're going to kill him! Is that what you want, Raven! Is it?" Beast Boy was now shouting too, trying his hardest to keep her from dealing anymore near-fatal blows, yanking her away. "Do you want to have the death of someone on your hands!"

"….No." She answered simply, trying to check the anger and pain in her. "But Cyborg isn't coming back! It's over, and I'm going to kill him!"

"No! Raven, we can save Cyborg.! You can't let someone else die in vain, not after that poor woman sacrificed herself for you and for our cause!"

"….What?" Raven asked, as if coming from a deep trance and looking over at Beast Boy's face.

Instead of an answer, Robin flaunted the blueprints, which made Raven's taunt face relax slightly. "You got those… for us?"

He nodded. "I'm your leader and Cy…. Is like a brother to me. The sooner we get him back on our side, the sooner we can get life back to normal. Raven, you deserve that….Unless you think you don't?"

Raven was silent for a few moments, her expression now unreadable, her emotions long since past the point of any form of control. "Cyborg…" She clenched her fist and looked down at it. "Cyborg, I…." Her eyes locked on the downed form on the floor. "What have I done!"

"Raven, calm down. It's over." Robin was very simple, trying to distract her while he too looked over at Slade, who had closed both eyes and appeared to lay very still, as if unsure of how to proceed to get the Titan's attention.

He could only let out a grunt of pain.

"I almost took another life… Another life with the right to life, and I almost killed…." She buried her head in her hands while looking over at Robin, who couldn't find the right words to say.

That was when he heard Slade let out a broken gasp for air. "Death… Would be most welcome…. Kill me…"

"NO!" Robin shouted. "I may hate you, but you can't die…. You are inclined to die, yet you have a right to life, the same as I do."

Slade didn't respond, and Raven could hear his breath growing more and more shallow as she ran for the exit. "Right to life…" She muttered. "What claim to life does a murder have?"_I guess I'll just have to ask Cyborg._

That was, as the remaining three Titans looked on, Slade stopped breathing. He had had his right to life, but it had somehow ended with his more pressing need to fall at the hands of hate.

_**Raventhedarkgoddess: Bad update, sorry. Two in the morning and I'm sugar-high. Anyway, let me know what you thought.**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Everything Will Be Alright**

Robin smiled as he placed the final wire from the complex-looking diagram and carefully shut the back-plate of his metal friend's body. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven all stood around Cyborg's cold metal bed, if it could even be called a bed, anxious looks on their faces. Raven had her hood up, but her eyes gave her away: She looked terrifed and yet relived to be standing there, and the hope came through the fear.

"Is everything ready, Beast Boy?" He asked. Beast Boy stood before the computer, looking mildly confused but resolute at the same time.

"I think I've got it, Robin," he said, trying to sound normal instead of strained and worried, although his face failed to hide what his voice clearly showed. He looked over at the silent goth girl, who had moved up and lain her right hand on Cyborg's shoulder. "Are you ready, Raven?"

Instead of uttering some form of audioable response, Raven just nodded blankly. Robin hugged Starfire gently to his side, seeing the worry on her face, and the two of them looked on as Beast Boy began muttering to himself, reading the diagram Raven had refused to touch and wishing someone else was doing this for him.

Starfire looked over at Raven, who was staring at Cyborg as if he were the only thing in the small room.Starfire found her eyes shifted from side to side, trying to find something else to focus on, but everywhere she saw signs of life, and so instead she forced herself to watch Beast Boy and Raven.

_I killed someone. Even if he comes back... He'll never love me. He'll never really be able to love someone who murdered because of him... _Raven looked at her own hand laying on his shoulder, then over at Beast Boy's face as he muttered something and tried a different key sequence.

"Friend Robin, why does friend Cyborg not awaken?" Starfire's emerald eyes were full of tears, tears that Raven could not force herself to look at, for she would have given anything to be able to cry. Instead, she turned and left the room, spinning on her heel and leaving before anyone had a chance to stop her.

No one could say anything. "Friend Raven..." Starfire started, but could not finish her sentance, and stood alone as Robin, saying loud, angry words that triggered an upset response from Beast Boy, ran over to see why nothing was working. "...Another way!"

"Dude, I've done everything I can!" Beast Boy snapped, his face glaring at Robin, his hands still resting over the keyboard, still trying to find a second way to bring Cyborg back to his former self, to bring back theteen he considered his best friend. Instead of yelling back, Robin started slamming keys, yelling things no one else could understand.

Starfire really did cry now, tears sliding down her face as she listened to the fighting and staring after Raven. Robin seemed to be having no better luck than Beast Boy, however, and their voices trailed away to nothing.

Whether several minutes or several hours had passed, no one knew. The voice that broke the silence, hoarse and broken, was almost too good to be true, and for a second all of the Titans were dumbfounded. "Where's Raven? What happened to Raven?" Cyborg started to pull one of the cables out of his body, but Robin stopped him with a gentle hand.

"Everything is fine. You're going to have to stay here for a little while longer, and then..." Slowly, careful not to say anything that would cause Cyborg to jump up and run out the door after her, Robin began to tell Cyborg the events of the last few weeks. Cyborg listened intently until Robin had finished.

"Why'd she do it? Did it just kind of happen, or...?" Cyborg seemed slightly confused on the details of Raven's murder. _Raven... I can't believe she would do it, but she must have had a reason..._

"You. She wanted to get the blueprints, and when Slade had them... She thought she would rescuse him on her own. We couldn't stop her in time..."

"Oh," Cyborg managed to get out, his voice thin and strained-sounding.

"We are most sorry, friend Cyborg," Starfire whispered, moving over toward him and putting her hand on his shoulder where Raven's had been before. "I only wish we could have prevented..."

Cyborg simply shook his head, saying nothing, his feelings gone numb. _She was willing to... She did... For me? She loves me... She loves me despite the metal body... She just wanted to save me..._

"I have to see Raven."

* * *

Raven sat down by the water's edge under an overhang of rock, her back propped against the crushed rock that had formed the overhang. The sun came up with the red of blood over the water, but Raven made no sign that she really saw the rippling of the water, or the sunrise. Instead, her head lay against her hand, hair blowing around her in a wind she didn't really feel. 

"I went all that way for nothing. There was nothing I could have done..." There was a pause in her words, which echoed back to her cruely in the small cavern. "I killed in vain. No death should be..."

_In vain. _She finished the thought quietly, unable to say it and make it real to her. "Cyborg... Cyborg, I never realized what would happen if I went after you. I never realized that I didn't tell you enough I loved you. I never..." She stopped, unable to stand the sound of her own voice any longer.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice the footsteps, failed to notice the person coming closer and closer to her as the first of the tears slid down her face, sending a nearby rock hurtling out into the water. "Cyborg..." Another rock came, another tear slid down her face. _I cant' stop crying..._

She felt a hand come to rest on hers, but she ignored it, wanting nothing more than to fall back into her pain and let it surround her until there was nothing else left. "Raven..." The voice broke with both the feeling of unused-ness and emotion, and Cyborg tried to keep his own tears back upon finding her like this. _To think it's all for nothing, she must be in so much pain..._

Raven blinked once, twice, trying to control the emotion. _Am I just hearing voices? Murderers go crazy... But I'm not hearing Slade's voice... That's... _"Cyborg?"

Cyborg swallowed hard, swallowing his own emotion enough to speak. "Raven... Please stop crying. It's okay now. I'm here."

Instead of answering him, Raven stood up and fell against him, Cyborg still tightly gripping her left hand in his own. He brought his right arm over to hold her against his chest and just let her lay there, tears glistening and falling over both of them from her eyes, rock after rock making it's way out and into the water, shrouded in her black aura. "Cyborg... You're okay?"

"I should be asking you that question," Cyborg replied. "I'm fine, but you don't seem... Seem to be doing too well."

"They told you what happened?" She turned her tear-streaked face to him. "Cyborg, I can understand if you can't talk to me agian... I never should have done it..."

Cyborg made a soft shushing noise. "Raven, you would have killed for me, and you put your life on the line for me. How could you ever think I would hate you for that?"

"So... So you really don't think it makes me cold, that it makes mea cruel person?"

"I'm not saying it was right," Cyborg quickly clarified, "But what I am saying is that I'm not going to stop talking to you for a mistake, no matter how big the mistake. Okay?" He held her closer to him all the while he spoke, letting of of her hand and brushing her hair back away from her eyes, seeing the trust in them.

"...I was so worried I would never see you again," Raven said finally, breaking her eyes away from his.

"I never want you to doubt I'm here for you if you need it, okay?" Cyborg asked. "I just... I want things to go back to how they used to be. We'll fight crime and... We'll be the same people we always were."

"So you're saying... That things can be like they always were?" Raven looked at him with an expression of hope, and Cyborg was taken by the beauty of it all.

Instead of actually answering her right away, Cyborg took Raven and placed his hand under her chin, tilting it toward him and locking eyes with her again. "Yes." Without waiting for her to respond, he pressed his lips gently to hers.

Raven looked startled for only a second, then brought her arms up to rest around his shoulders and started kissing him back. Cyborg smiled and closed his eye after a second of watching her, and the two of them sat under the blood-red sun like that for several seconds.

Raven was the one to pull away first as the light came to rest in a gentle beam across the left side of her face. "Are you ready to go inside and let them know everything is all right?"

Cyborg took Raven's hand and started to walk away from the rock where she had sat crying before. "Everything is all right. Everything will be all right, Raven."

_Because I love you, regardless of what happens. Nothing is going to tear us apart, no matter what._

**Thank you to all my reviewers.**

**END**


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